Analysis of Workplace Safety and Risk Management Incident in Canberra

This essay provides a detailed analysis of a workplace safety incident involving Kenoss Contractors in Canberra, Australia. The essay examines the workplace environment, identifies the hazards present, and explores how a tragic safety breach, resulting in a truck driver's death, could have been avoided. It discusses the actual events, including the role of various individuals and the company's safety practices. Furthermore, the essay analyzes SAFEWORK's resolution of the issue, including fines and penalties. It also presents alternative measures that could have been taken to prevent the incident and offers the author's individual perspective on how they would have addressed the situation to improve workplace safety, emphasizing the importance of proactive hazard identification, safety training, and adherence to government regulations to prevent future incidents and protect employees and visitors. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of prioritizing workplace health and safety to prevent accidents and ensure the well-being of all individuals.

Running head: SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Safety and Risk Management
Name of Student:
Name of College:
Authors Name:
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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
Workplace safety is very essential component for every organization so as to safeguard their
employees and visitors from all sorts of dangers and hazards which are linked with the
workplace or worksite. Implementing Workplace health and safety measures must be a top
priority for every organization as it remains the responsibility of every organization to ensure the
well-being of their employees and visitors. An organization should follow all the necessary
guidelines, laws and policies imposed by the government of a country or any regulatory
organization regarding workplace health and safety. In case of non compliance they are eligible
for punishments and penalties. Every organization must also appoint an experienced and well
trained safety officer who would be responsible for identifying different types of risks and
hazards which are associated with the workplace and take necessary measures in order to avoid
those risks. Such as providing necessary information to all the employees regarding the risks and
hazards in the workplace, developing mitigation strategy to avoid the risks and ensuring that
different types of safety measures are in place. Moreover it is the responsibility of safety officer
to check and maintain on a periodic basis the safety measures to ensure effectiveness. By taking
appropriate workplace health and safety measures in the organization, they can ensure that all the
employees and visitors are safe and are protected from various types of injuries or hazards at
work.
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Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................2
Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
Discussion....................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................8
References....................................................................................................................................9
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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Health and safety are the two words which every individual rather tend to take seriously and they
are right in doing so considering their value and importance. Health and Safety play a vital role
in the well-being of every individual and in the overall quality of life of every individual. In case
of workplaces, health and safety of the individuals of the employees of the company must be the
top priority of every organization and above everything else and the healthy being and safety
being of the employees of the company also determine the success and failure of a business
organization. Regardless of any sector, the chances of accidents are always present for every
organization. It is observed that while some industries or organizations presents more chances of
an organization than other industries or organization, but the bottom line remains the same
regarding the occurrence of accidents and therefore every organization should have strict and
distinct protocols in place in order to address various health and safety related hazards in the
workplace on the employees as well on the visitors at the workplaces. Every organization can
ensure the safety of their employees and workers in the workplace by developing several laws
and protocols regarding Workplace Health and Safety and also by implementing various Health
and Safety Measures in place in the organizations which will help in reducing the impact of the
damages and hazards caused by various accidents in the workplace and will also help in
promoting the well-being of the workers and prevention of any kind of serious injuries or deaths
of any employee or visitors. Organizations must also invest in various certification courses of the
members or individual who are in charge of Workplace Health and Safety in the organization so
that they can learn about various new techniques and strategies which will help in the mitigation
of various health and safety related issue in the organization and will help in promoting the well-
being of the employees and also the visitors of the organization.
This report focuses on the analysis of one such incident of serious safety breaches which
occurred in Canberra, which was caused due to the negligence of an organization regarding
Workplace Health and Safety, which eventually led to the tragic death of a Truck driver, who
was responsible for transportation of materials to the company site and also provides insights
regarding what could have been done in order to avoid such circumstances and what approach
should have been taken to deal with the situation by the organization.
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Discussion
As reported by Byrne (2015 a) Kenoss Contractors was a construction company in Canberra,
Australia who were contracted by ACT government for road re-surfacing works at the
intersection of Barry Drive and Clunies Ross Street in Turner and the project was known
popularly as “Barry Drive Project.” According to information in Jade (2018) during the time of
the incident Kenoss Contractors had only one Director named Mrs. Beverly Brendas and her
husband named Mr. Spiros Brendas, who was employed as the general manager of the company.
Their son Mr. Dimitri Brendas was employed as the safety officer of the company despite having
no qualification or experience regarding management of safety system. Mr. Munir al Hasani, a
well-qualified person who was managing several projects of the company was the project
manager of the “Barry Drive” project. Mr. Sandeep Thorat was the project engineer of the
company for the Barry Drive Project and Mr. Louis Clarke was the general foreman of the Barry
Drive project of the company.
Hazards
As reported by Taylor (2015) the Hazards which were associated with the Barry Drive Project
was that the Kenoss Contractors used two compounds which were used for storage of materials
and piping that were required for the storage. As reported by Byrne (2014) the employees of the
company were asked to use the larger compound mainly for the storage of the materials required
for the purpose of the Barry Drive project. Also employees of the company were asked by the
Foreman of the project to not use the second compound of the site as it was considered to be
dangerous due to the presence of low hanging high tension electric wires which could result in
electrocution.
Safety breach that could be avoided
The safety breach could have been avoided if there were appropriate danger signs and safety
signs on the smaller compound of the company, where the high tension wires lied at a lower
level. As reported by Byrne (2015 c) the safety breach could have been avoided if the safety
officer in consultation with the project manager would have provided necessary information
regarding the presence of low level high tension wires that could have alerted the truck driver.
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As reported by Byrne (2015 b) the safety breach could also have been avoided if the entrance to
the second compound was guarded. A safety guard appointed at compound could have provided
necessary information to the truck driver regarding the presence of a low level high tension wire
so that the truck driver could have taken necessary precaution. As reported by Taylor (2015) the
safety breach could also have been avoided if the company restricted the entrance to the second
compound limited to only the visitors. As the truck driver was not an employee of the company it
was difficult for him to know the hazards and risks which were associated with dumping
materials in the second compound being used in the Barry Drive Project. However, the labourers
who were working in the Barry Drive project were all aware of the associated hazard. So if only
the employees and labourers of the company were granted access to the second compound of the
Barry Drive project and rest visitors would not have been granted access, then the safety breach
could have been avoided.
Actual Incident
As reported by Knaus (2015 b) Mr. Michael Booth who was a truck driver at the David O’ Melly
truck hiring service was in charge for dumping load of materials in the Barry Drive project of the
Kenoss Contractors for the second time in the day. Moreover according to Williams (2012) when
Mr Booth entered the Barry Drive project he was signalled by Mr. Clarke, the foreman of the
project to dump the materials for the second time in the main compound of the project. But later
without any obvious reasons Mr. Clarke instructed Mr Booth to dump the materials in the second
compound without providing him any information about the hazards within second compound.
Hence in lack of warning Mr Booth entered the second compound alone without being alerted
about the danger associated with it and while tipping his load the bucket of the truck either came
in close contact or in direct contact with the low lying high tension wires which led to the death
of the truck driver as a result of electrocution (Byrne., 2015 d)
SAFEWORK resolution of issue
As reported by Knaus (2015 a) SAFEWORK resolved the issue by taking strict actions against
Kenoss Contractors and against Munir al Hasani, the project manager of the Barry Drive project.
Upon investigation it was found that the company had not implemented adequate workplace
health and safety measures at their sites so as to safeguard the well-being of their employees and
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visitors. As reported by Inman (2015) the investigation also charged Munir al Hasani of not
performing his responsibility in adequate manner which led to the tragic accident at the project
site. But during trial of case he was not found guilty as he lacked the necessary qualification and
experience which was required to charge him as a guilty or to address him as an officer. As
reported by Byrne (2015 e) though Munir al Hasani was deemed to be non-guilty but the
company was fined $1.1 million as penalty for failing to implement the workplace health and
safety policy in their company as laid down by the government which led to the tragic death of
the truck driver.
Alternative measure that could have been taken
In this case the company could have taken the matter in a more sensitive manner which would
have helped in sorting out the issue without any complications. After the incident the company
could have fired the foreman Mr Clarke and also could have asked resignation of the safety
officer by issuing a show cause notice to Munir al Hasani. As opined by Alfers, Xulu & Dobson
(2016) the company could have also provided compensation to the family of the truck driver as a
gesture of apology and could have asked for forgiveness from the family regarding the death of
the truck driver. As stated by Casey, Riseborough & Krauss (2015) the company also could have
provided a job to any member of the family or could have taken responsibility for securing the
future of the dependents of Mr Booth. By taking a sensitive approach the company could have
escaped the huge amount of penalty which was imposed by the Industrial Court as a result of
violation of the new laws and policies related to workplace health and safety.
Individual opinion on issue resolution
If I would have worked there, the first and foremost thing that I should have done was arranging
for installation of safety signals and symbols at the various site location where the project was in
line. Particularly for those sites which were hazardous to the workers and visitors of the
company. As stated by Buhai, Cottini & Westergaard‐Nielsen (2017) the next thing that I should
have done was evaluating the hazards which were associated with the various sites of the
company and would have arranged for session so as to alert the workers regarding the hazards
and the potential mitigation strategies for prevention. According to UroševićSnežana,
StefanovićVioleta & Đorđević Dragan (2016) the next thing which I would have done in this
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case was to request the top management of the company to appoint an experienced and trained
safety officer. The role of the officer would have been to look after the safety arrangements of
the company and taking necessary steps to abide by the laws and policies laid down by the
government regarding workplace health and safety.
Conclusion
From the above report was clear and evident that lack of safety measures in place at the work site
of the company was responsible for the death of the truck driver. From the report it was also
clear that the company was unable to pay the fine as ordered by the court due to insolvency. Also
it was inferred that the main individuals who were accused by the court were proven not-guilty
due to their limited knowledge regarding the situation and its consequences. But the decision of
the Industrial court had sent a strong message to other organizations regarding consequences of
safety breaches which would ensure that all organizations pay equal importance to the health and
safety-being of their workers just like any other important function of the company such as sales
and marketing. Based on the analysis of the above case study it was also concluded that the
company which was responsible for such a tragic incident had a very poor corporate culture and
the individuals who were responsible for looking after the workplace health and safety policy
were not qualified enough to hold such important and responsible post in the company. This
resulted in the occurrence of such accident in the company. Based on the analysis of the above
situation it could also be said that the adoption of simple and affordable methods regarding
workplace health and safety could have avoided such a tragic accident. From the above report it
was also clear and evident that the safety breaches which led to the tragic accident of the truck
driver could have been easily avoided if the company undertook the matter of employee health
and safety at top priority. It is also clear and evident that the company could have approached the
situation in a sensitive and different manner which could have resulted in the reduction of the
amount of fine for the company but instead they approached the situation in such a way that
resulted in more strict penalties for the company. Further it could be also concluded that the
verdict which was passed by the Industrial Court ACT regarding the above mentioned accident
would serve as an eye-opener to other organizations not withstanding to health and safety
measures appropriately. This incident had served as a landmark to all other similar cases as this
was the first case whose verdict was based on new nationally harmonized work health safety
laws.
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References
Alfers, L., Xulu, P., & Dobson, R. (2016). Promoting workplace health and safety in urban
public space: reflections from Durban, South Africa. Environment & Urbanization, 28(2),
391–404. Retrieved from doi: 10.1177/0956247816647845
Buhai, I., Cottini, E., &Westergaard‐Nielsen, N. (2017). How Productive Is Workplace Health
and Safety? Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 119(4), 1086–1104. Retrieved from
doi:10.1111/sjoe.12184
Byrne., E (2014) Canberra man says he is penniless ahead of legal action over workplace death.
ABC NewsRetrieved from -
Byrne., E (2015 a) ACT company Kenoss found guilty of breaching work safety laws after truck
driver's electrocution. ABC NewsRetrieved from -
Byrne., E (2015 b) Canberra foreman denies lying over company report into truck driver Michael
Booth's death.ABC NewsRetrieved from -
Byrne., E (2015 c) Canberra project manager blames victim for workplace death during road
resurfacing project. ABC News Retrieved from -
Byrne., E (2015 d) Canberra truck driver electrocuted because contractor failed to provide safe
workplace, court told. ABC News Retrieved from -
Byrne., E (2015 e) Safety officer in Canberra workplace death had no formal qualifications,
court told.ABC News Retrieved from -
Casey, T., Riseborough, K., & Krauss, A. (2015). Do you see what I see? Effects of national
culture on employees’ safety-related perceptions and behaviour. Accident Analysis and
Prevention, 78(C), 173–184. Retrieved from doi:10.1016/j.aap.2015.03.010
Inman., M (2015)Kenoss Contractors fined $1.1 million for workplace death. The Canberra
TimesRetrieved from -
Jade (2018) INDUSTRIAL COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY. Jade
Case Trace Retrieved from -
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Knaus., C (2015 a) Kenoss blamed electrocuted driver for own death, despite alleged safety
breaches. The Canberra TimesRetrieved from -
Knaus., C (2015 b) Project manager cleared in Kenoss electrocution death case. The Canberra
TimesRetrieved from -
Taylor., G (2015 ) Canberra construction company fined $1.1 million over death of truck
driver.ABC NewsRetrieved from -
UroševićSnežana, StefanovićVioleta, &Đorđević Dragan.(2016). ANALYSIS OF THE
WORKING CONDITIONS WITH CONSIDERATION-HAZARD POTENTIAL
HEALTH AND SAFETY OF EMPLOYEES IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY. Annals of the
University of Oradea: Fascicle of Textiles, (1), 213–218. Retrieved from
Williams., J (2012) Gunning man dies after site incident. The Canberra TimesRetrieved from -
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